Originally posted by Connery
FX You missed my point clearly. You've just said the BBQ afterwards would change my mind. I said its only a problem if its for sport. I also said if you're actually gonna eat your prey thats fine.
And there is a great lack of hunting in the UK - mainly due to the ban on firearms.
Connery:
On the chance that you're serious, consider this.
You have no concept whatsoever of what the US Biosphere is like.
There are 193 MILLION SQUARE MILES of wildlands managed by the National Forest Service ALONE In contrast, the entire Island of Britain, encomapssing Britain, Scotland, and Wales only covers 80,000 square miles. Not chest thumping -- you need to imagine how BIG a wild area we're talking about.
But this is
NOT] untouched wildlands. Because people are considered more important than critters, the natural predators that pose risk to humans have been suppressed, or in some cases, eliminated. We do not take kindly to Mountain Lions eating the faces off our joggers...and yes, that happened a few years back in California.
Once you start messing with the food chain, even if you do it for good reasons, you are going to see ecologic imbalances. So, for example, with fewer top predators in Pennsylvania, there is nothing to balance the deer herd out. They can reporduce to the point of species starvation...and it is NECESSARY to allow a hunt to keep the population controlled.
Apply that concept to smaller critters, which dont have enough meat to warrant eating. Look what rabbits did to Australia's ecology...can you honestly say its wrong to cull that population, which has no real predator and which can destroy the environment for natural species?
Or how about other rodents, where their enemies like coyotes aren't allowed to florish due to concerns about livestock safety, or the security of Muffy The Pet Dog That Looks Like A Small Rat? That's why rodents need artificial controls, including varmint hunting, even without eating the critters. Its a consequence of a human-imapcted ecology, in a country that hasnt been turned into a giant back yard like GB.
